This invention relates to the field of plants and more specifically to the field of giant Miscanthus plants and involves a new and distinct cultivar of giant Miscanthus, botanically known as Miscanthus×giganteus and referred to hereinafter by the name ‘MSU MFL1’. The novel giant Miscanthus is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor at Starkville, Miss., to develop a new giant Miscanthus cultivar with good plant characteristics, vigorous growth habits, and large per acre yield. The species itself was derived from natural crossing in Japan of Miscanthus sacchariflorus (2n=4x) and M. sinensis (2n=2x), and the resulting hybrid is a seed sterile triploid (2n=3x).
The present invention, the new giant Miscanthus cultivar, is derived from parental material that was in the public domain (USDA ARS-GRIN, Miami, Fla.). Individual rhizomes/tillers were selected for the most vigorous growth (serial propagation) at Starkville, Miss. beginning in 2001 and further propagated by the inventor.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘MSU MFL1’ by vegetative division/rhizomes has shown that the unique features of this novel plant are stable and reproduced true-to-type in successive generations.